Champions League: Arsenal Defeated At Home By Borussia Dortmund

By Aydin Reyhan

Photo courtesy of Mesut Ozil’s official Facebook page

After winning most of their games of this rather young season, it is safe to say that Arsenal were absolutely shocked by a BorussiaDortmund team by a score of 2-1 at home. Both teams enjoy playing possession and creating chances, but one team (the winning one that is) knew how to capitalize a bit more, hence their 2-1 victory at the Emirates.

Arsenal are stacked with a bunch of midfielders who know how to skillfully impact a game as well as when to pass, when to shoot and perhaps score. Their lone goal arrived through Olivier Giroud, but none of his teammates could come up with the same impact as they have continuously done throughout the Premier League season thus far.

Mesut Ozil is a player that was expected to at least score one and assist on a couple of goals, as he was the hero in the group stage a year ago with a last-minute equalizer in the 2-2 draw against this same Dortmund team. The problem with Ozil is that when he faces German opposition, he struggles to impact the game the way he normally would since they know his exact style. He plays with them internationally for Germany, so they have been studying his play for quite a while prior to the game.

Now, Arsenal face an even tougher challenge in their group rematch set to take place in Dortmund exactly two weeks from today. If they lost at home, they are going to struggle in Germany as the team is extremely tough to defeat at their very own Signal Iduna Park.

They dominate possession, press high up the field throughout the 90 minutes and always manage to hit an almost perfect counter-attack whenever they steal possession. This allows them to unleash their fastest and most skilled players.

Arsenal will go into the game with same game plan as they are not known to defend to protect a slender lead or a draw. Then again, they will do whatever it takes to grab at least a point from one of the rowdiest stadiums in the region.